Found a new build. Replaced "Invoke Lightning" with "Lightning Surge" does slightly more damage but only to one target. Replaced "Chain Lightning" with an Energy Storage skill, "Energy Blast", again does more damage but only to one foe.

They're claiming it delayed because of bad weather in Seattle (where Arenanet is located). Not buying it. Shouldn't be that much to do for Canthan New Year. The only thing that changes from year to year is the mini. Last year it was rabbit. Next year its snake.

Canthan New Year this weekend. Starts Thursday 12 noon PST and ends noon Monday. The finale will run every three hours on Sunday. The mask is the same every year a lion mask. What changes is the mini. This year its celestial dragon, to match Chinese Year of the Dragon.

The little girl at the beginning is Gwen, she won't be seen again until the Eye of the North and until that expansion was released no one knew whether she lived or died when the charr attacked.

The Trials of Ascension can be done in any order, this video collection shows just one order. There are two cut scenes with Glint. The first comes from completing the mission. The second is only seen if you attempt and fail at the bonus, which is to kill Glint. Even if you do kill Glint to get the bonus, the story assumes you did not.

Winds of Change part 3 has been added (see Guild Wars 2 post in this forum for blog about it).

I thought the ending was lame. I knew the Ministry of Purity had to be left in place but I thought it would be more dramatic than it turned out. And apparently our characters are idiots because we leave assuming everything will be good now, even though all we did was take out one power mad maniac and then leave another power mad maniac in her place. He's just a little more subtle that's all.

Anyhow, the final reward is an item that can be turned in for a weapon. Also a new hero is unlocked.

The imperial requisition orders received from quests can also be traded in for different weapons (15) or a lockedbox (3) which when open will leave one randomly generated item behind. Items include at least one mini pet, other weapons or items towards drunkard, party animal or sweet tooth tiles.

I haven't traded anything yet, but think I'll go for lockboxes.

One of the new quests included explosives which could be picked up, replacing skills with just 2 options, hurl it like a grenade or plant it on the ground as a trap, like a mine. This mimics Guild Wars 2 environmental weapons.

In the final quest Reiko the villain of the story, is a mesmer who summons phantasms, like a Guild Wars 2 mesmer.

I didn't get any minis from 5 lockboxes, just 3 weapons and 50 point party animal object and a 50 point drunkard object. I'll use weapons on heroes. The most interesting weapon was a parrying dagger to go in off hand instead of a shield for blocking attacks. That too is probably a tease for GW2.